flying_phish

My god that's a lot of G3's. I can't pick out a single helmet that I can say for sure is not a G3

It's a Racer. I'm not sure about the year or model, but I'm about 90% sure it's older than the girl in the orange Phantom.

I've got about 600-700 jumps on Pilots (from 188 down to 140), and 200-250 on a Sabre 2 150. I always liked the Pilot openings better. A little bit smoother, and significantly more consistent in terms of both heading and "smoothness." Pilots snivel longer. Some people don't like that, but I love it. Sabre 2 openings are generally nice though. Just be ready to grab risers in case it opens off heading. I will say I like the Sabre 2 landings a little better. I find a little more power on the bottom end of the flare in the S2 compared to the Pilot (as seems to be the case with PD canopies in general). It helps you put it down gently on those no-wind days.

I thought the same thing at first, but skip to 2:00 and there's a segment of the student talking to a camera under canopy. I wonder if Deland knows about it yet.

And here I thought this thread was finally winding down...

Hah, wow. I would never have felt comfortable jumping an Apache with 25 WS jumps. But then, I've done some things that would get me flamed on here too... To your point about hypocrisy: commenters in a public forum will inevitably have varying degrees of experience and expertise. Ultimately it's up to each of us as readers to decide which opinions to respect, and which ones to just ignore. There's plenty of both on here, that's for sure... I do think withholding jump numbers contributed to the attitude in here that you were in need of our collective "advice," because (like I mentioned earlier) we tend to make assumptions to fill any information gaps. In that way, information gaps often end up being incriminating, which can lead to all these accusatory undertones and hostility that gets amplified with each round of back-and-forth. Anyway, thanks for finally humoring us with the numbers. A little anti-climactic, but thanks nevertheless haha

To be honest, the assumption I had made was that you had adequate experience and the exit was a result of un-currency combined with new things rather than inexperience (which does make for a very good lesson, by the way, so I do want to say thanks for that reminder). Having said that, I think it's more than reasonable for someone to ask for jump numbers as one piece of evidence in determining the "links in the chain." And it's also 100% your decision whether you want to share that information. But you really ought to be prepared to take some degree of backlash for being selective with the evidence you release. Those of us who don't know you personally do tend to make assumptions as to why you're releasing one piece of information but not another. The biggest lesson I've taken from this? The internet will never give you the benefit of the doubt. Oh, and I guess being current is a good idea too.

You posted this video so people (yourself included) could learn from it, right? If you really want people to learn from this, isn't it best to contextualize it as best as possible? When we try to learn from an "incident" (for lack of a less severe term, in this case), we have to narrow down the causes. We try to find all the "links in the chain." Asking for jump numbers is just a way of narrowing it down. We either cross it off the list of possible causes, or we take it into account as one of the links. But when you limit the information you put out there, you limit the lessons that could (potentially) be learned. Isn't that completely counterproductive to the whole purpose of this thread? To me, it's totally paradoxical. Besides, what do you stand to gain from withholding any information? What's the worst that'll happen? Your "Scenario 1"? If you're withholding information just to avoid the possibility of reading something you disagree with, then maybe your skin isn't thick enough to be posting videos for honest critique in the first place. It's just an internet forum. Who gives a shit? Lighten up, Francis!

You did ignore my questions earlier. I'm still wondering why someone who has enough experience (14 years?) to jump a Katana 97 and who was jumping a V4 last season would get so defensive when asked about his experience level (Zee's question on the first page). Why wouldn't you just say "I have XXXX jumps and XXX wingsuit jumps. This 'incident' was more about currency than overall experience. Next topic." That's where all this hostility started, and it just went downhill from there. PS - Nobody needed to "try to make you look like an ass." You did that all on your own. Which is unfortunate, because you seemed like a reasonable guy for a little while there.

You have fun being a dick? You're painting a great picture of yourself here buddy. Seriously though, what did you expect would come from brushing your experience level under the rug and refusing to talk about it? I don't understand why you didn't just answer the question to begin with, especially if you're confident that your experience is adequate. I don't think you're dumb enough to think experience is irrelevant, so why not answer the question?

Wow. I've been needing exactly this service for a couple years now. Definitely gonna check it out. Thanks!

hah, love the song

I don't know what he said to you, but I have to admit your classifieds postings raised a few questions for me. So I'm guessing that's what it was about. Not that you owe me an explanation, but it is a bit out of the ordinary.

3 guys and 1 girl: 6-Ball, Corner Pocket